Mosaic artist Kim Campbell had worked for 18 years as a Physician’s Assistant, 8 of them in a Raleigh Gastro-Intestinal clinic. “I was really a science person,” she remembers. She was building a house near Moncure and “There was a place over the fireplace that just needed something,” “I was always fascinated by mosaic art and thought at hat one would look good there” Her husband cut a piece of plywood to fit the space. “My sister gave me a tub of glass pieces and I made my first mosaic.” Campbell states. “I fell in love with my first piece.” She is self-taught. “Trial and error have been my most influential teachers.”

“I find the work very therapeutic – It gives me contentment,” Kim explains. She has now been creating them for seven years. She uses colored art glass, sea glass and repurposed materials. She first makes a sketch of the design and then clips random pieces of glass. “I fit the pieces to the sketch like doing a puzzle.” “Creating mosaic art is a way for me to translate how I perceive nature and the spiritual world. That inspiration often reflects personal experiences and places dear to my heart; therefore, my subject matter ranges from abstract to figurative to landscapes.”

Kim’s mosaics are sold from $80 to $1200. She will make her Chatham Studio Tour debut the first two weekends in December in her Santosa (appropriately Sanskrit for contentment) studio. It is a beautiful octagon structure which is wheelchair accessible. She will exhibit with two other Chatham Artists. Kim teaches yoga there three times a week.

“I make mosaics that are personal to me and give me a feeling of contentment,” Kim Campbell asserts. Visitors to this year’s Chatham Studio Tour will certainly experience this in her Santosa Studio.